Say Anything Blog

Yesterday Pilgrim posted about ABC News running a special broadcast about Obama’s plans for nationalized health care from the White House.  Giving the President home field advantage to explain what is a hotly-contested bit of policy is bad enough, but it appears as though ABC is also actively excluding critics of Obama’s plans from the broadcast.  From a GOP memo emailed to me this morning by a reader:

On Wednesday, June 24th, the ABC News network will devote an entire day of programming to President Barack Obama’s health care agenda. According to an ABC News report, in addition to a primetime health care reform “town hall” at the White House, Good Morning America, World News, Nightline and ABC’s web news “will all feature special programming on the president’s health care agenda.”

The Republican National Committee asked ABC News to include Republicans in their health care reform programming on June 24th but our request was denied. This means that President Obama and the Democrats will have an entire day to push their government-run health care agenda without hearing Republicans’ policy ideas and principles on health care reform.

Next Wednesday, the RNC will make our television studio available, for the entire day, for House and Senate Republicans to conduct satellite interviews with local network affiliates in their home states or congressional districts, including the 211 ABC affiliates nationwide. The RNC will absorb the cost of the satellite time and offer assistance in setting up the satellite interviews with the local affiliates. Republican Members of Congress can use this opportunity to discuss his or her views on health care reform as well as to respond to President Obama’s health care plan.

So, basically this ABC broadcasts amounts to an infomercial for Obama and his policies.

I wonder if Obama and/or the Democrats have to pay for the ad time?  Or if this would qualify as an in-kind political donation on behalf of ABC to Obama?